Market design, DERs and the future of flexibility: Lessons from California's 2020 rolling blackouts

On Friday 14 August and Saturday 15 August 2020, there were two rolling blackouts called by the California Independent Service Operator (CAISO) in response to increased demand during a heat wave across the West Coast. In this report we survey distributed energy resources (DERs) in California and seek to answer three questions: What DERs are available in the state? How did these resources impact California's capacity deficit during the heatwave? What role could these resources play in future events?